Table of Contents

Foreword V

Acknowledgments IX

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER ONE: The Domain and Power of Party 5

Parties, Elections, and Patronage 6

Parties, the State, and Public Policy 16

The Major Parties: The Republicans and The Democrats 22

On the Periphery of Party Politics: Mugwumps, Suffragists, Prohibitionists, Grangers, Greenbackers , and Laborites 31

CHAPTER TWO: The Deadlock of National Politics, 1868—1890 46

Grant: The Emergence of Deadlock, 1868—1876 50

Hayes: The Confirmation of Deadlock, 1876—1880 60

Garfield and Arthur: The Deadlock Continue, 1880—1884 67

Cleveland: The Deadlock Lengthens, 1884—1888 74

Breaking the Deadlock? Harrison and the Fifty-first Congress, 1888—1890 85

CHAPTER THREE: Political Upheaval, 189—1900 94

The Emergence of Populism, 1890—1892 97

The Dividend Democrats Fail to Govern, 1893—1896 110

Republican Resurgence and Democratic Downfall: The Battle of the Standards, 1896 118

Conclusion: An End and Many Beginnings 127

Illustrations and Maps follow page 84

Appendix: Tables 139

Table 1.1: Farm Production and Crop Prices, 1865—1900 139

Table 2.1: Popular and Electoral Vote for President, 1868—1904 141

Table 2.2 Electoral Votes by Selected Regions and States 142

Table 2.3 Party Strength in Congress, 1868—1904 143

Table 2.4 Federal Income and Expenses, Including Customs Receipts 144

Bibliographical Essay 146

Index 159

About the Author

Robert W. Cherny is professor of history at SanFrancisco State University, where he has been a member of thehistory faculty since 1971. In 1995 96, he served aspresident of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age andProgressive Era. He was the Distinguished Fullbright Lecturer atMoscow State University in 1996 and held a fellowship from theNational Endowment for the Humanities in 1992 93. He receivedhis Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1972 and his B.A. from theUniversity of Nebraska in 1965. His books include A RighteousCause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (1985, 1994),Populism, Progressivism, and the Transformation of NebraskaPolitics, 1885 1915 (1981), and, with William Issel,San Francisco, 1865 1932: Politics, Power, and UrbanDevelopment (1986). His essays include William JenningsBryan and the Historians, Nebraska History (1996), the Democratic Party in the Era of William JenningsBryan in Democrats and the American Idea: ABicentennial Appraisal (1992), and Willa Catherand the Populists, Great Plains Quarterly (1983). Heis also co-author of Making America: A History of the UnitedStates (1995).

Reviews

"This is a solid piece of work. ... Cherny consistentlyexplains complicated political events in a clear and andinteresting fashion. ... An imaginative appendix...should assistreaders to understand this "watershed" period in the nation'spolitical life." ( Teaching History, Spring 1999) "Cherny provides a very readable narrative of key political eventsand personalities, and he employs an array of useful concepts thatare based on the most current scholarship." ( Great PlainsQuarterly, Winter 1998)